I wonder if the rumoured links with AF (or indeed another carrier) might have some impact on their long haul plans; AF/KL are planning a 100 aircraft widebody order (787/350) and if they cancelled their own 350 order and rowed in with AF/KL, there might be considerable savings?
I think we can probably forget about the two 330s scheduled for delivery in 2010/11, but why more 320s? EI has significant problems on its UK regional network - specifically, not being able to have any more than a daily service, which will be pretty useless if - as it has long said - it wants to have an effective hub at DUB once T2 is up and running.
And what of the older 333s which will be surplus to requirements? With an all Y class charter-type layout (c.400 seats), these older aircraft would probably have unbeatable seat-mile costs, due to v. low lease costs Long haul low cost is something that EI is going to need to look at (even if it's under a different branding); why not be first, for once, instead of following the herd? Stimulate demand by putting these aircraft on routes not currently served by EI, with the benefit of aggressive, innovate marketing.
US students will still want to do their Euro trips; why not make EI's low cost operation the "Loftleidir" of the 21st century; DUB is as good as any place to start and with EI's network throughout Europe, it's a fairly plausible staging first stop? Bottom line: people will want to travel, but they'll want more value than they're getting: the winning airline(s) will be those who can offer that. Why can't EI do this?